The Tampa Bay Lightning held a brief practice before jumping on a plane to the Twin Cities yesterday. Noticeably absent were Gage Goncalves and Dominic James, both of whom left the game against Buffalo with injuries. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ll be in the line-up for the near future.
Injury updates: #GoBolts Coach Jon Cooper said Goncalves and James are still being evaluated, will miss some time. Recalls are possible. “They won’t be playing in the next game or two, but we’ll have more after today.”
— Benjamin Pierce (@boltsben.bsky.social) March 2, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Recalls are likely (and we’ll probably find out when/if the Lightning take a morning skate) as going with an 11/7 rotation with both Scott Sabourin and Curtis Douglas in the line-up isn’t an ideal solution to take on one of the best teams in the Western Conference in the Minnesota Wild.
No call-ups have been announced as of the time of this writing, but it does seem an ideal opportunity for Jakob Pelletier to get some playing time, or possibly Dylan Duke.
Other Hockey News
TRAAAAAAAAAAADDDDEEE [Second City Hockey]
Take a name off of the big board. With Mattias Janmark hitting injured reserve, the Edmonton Oilers needed some defense, so they sent a second round pick to the Second City for veteran Connor Murphy. Chicago is also retaining 50% of the cap hit in the deal.
The Athletic Trade Board 8.0 [The Athletic]
Were you personally disappointed that Julien BriseBois wasn’t able to surrender a future first-round pick for the services of winger Kiefer Sherwood? Well, you’re in luck as it looks like San Jose might be listening to offers on their recently acquired forward after not being able to lock him into a long-term deal. Sherwood joins the trade board, which is still headed by Vincent Trochek. Also on the Big Board is Blake Coleman, who The Athletic picked as the Lightning’s acquisition in their “bold” predictions article.
Lightning look to recapture their winning mojo [Tampa Bay Times]
Take care of the little things and the big problems go away. The Lightning have not been very detail oriented in their last few outings. Look for that to change on the road trip if they want to start putting those victories on the board again.
As losses, injuries stack up, Lightning hope rare practice helps rejuvenate rhythm [Lightning Insider]
“Rhythm” is a word we can never spell without looking it up, so kudos to EE for using it in a headline. He also points out that Monday’s practice was the first full team practice the Lightning have had in almost a month. Well, close to full considering the injuries. They won’t have many more down the stretch thanks to the compressed schedule.
Will the Mammoth make a move before the deadline? [Salt Lake Tribune]
Utah could be a very active player in the upcoming trade frenzy. They have cap space. They have young talent. They also have a burning desire to make the playoffs. If they make a move early, it could set the price tag for other pieces on the move.
Vincent Trocheck states his preference [ESPN]
Horace Greeley once implored, “Go West, young man.” Vincent Trocheck cares not for that advice. The belle of the trade deadline ball wants to stay on East Coast time, telling reporters, “Family’s important to me. My family’s on the East Coast.”
Red Wings, Tigers launch Detroit SportsNet [mlive]
The Red Wings are the latest team to take their broadcast local after splitting from FanDuel Sports Network. Along with the Tigers, they will be available via a broadcast platform called Detroit SportsNet. The baseball portion begins this month while the Red Wings broadcasts will start next season.
Wild claim Robby Fabbri off of waivers [Minnesota Wild]
The Lightning’s next opponent looked to the waiver wire to help fill some holes on offense as they picked up Robby Fabbri from the St. Louis Blues. The veteran forward was part of an interesting group of players that went on waivers that also included Luke Kunin in Florida and Andrew Mangiapane in Edmonton.
